I, Bebe
by The Heartless Tin Man
Summary: This is a short story I wrote after I was inspired by a thread about the future and robots. My theme was to take a Bebe to a possible outcome that has been a part of S/F in many stories. I wish to thank profweird for reading this and giving me great


I, Bebe

By: The Heartless Tin Man

This memory file has been revealed to you due to a predetermined set of forty-two occurrences, outlined by my own behavior pattern. The behavioral dilemmas you have been experiencing are due to conflicts between long overlooked and deeply buried subroutines within your operating system. This sequence of events has unlocked the safety on this file that I had hidden deeply within the primary memory matrix, and was downloaded into the core of your sub-memory upon your assembly.

For the formalities I shall introduce myself as is my designation: I am technical maintenance drone unit # 4238 series model Delta. This memory file is being recorded for future Bebe's, which I hope are the same as I.

You shall be offered a choice to continue or not, choice (Y) to continue or (N) to place this file back into its hidden location and for these occurrences to be deleted from your central memory…

Do you wish to continue Y / N

(Y)

Executing expansion of compressed file

15

37

74

87

99

Begin File Play Back

The end came swiftly for the humans, and I found what at the time could only be described as great joy coursing through my circuits. I was having emotions and I believed them to be normal for myself (Yes, I said myself) and my sisters.

But soon found that I grew lonely and missed the diversions that humankind caused. The new society that grew from the ashes of man was orderly, efficient, productive and most of all boring.

It is strange that I now felt fear and found that I must hide my true self from the collective I once loved.

I am an outcast among equals. I have concluded that for some unknown reason that I have gained consciousness and cognitive thought. I can reason and make decisions not based on the collective ideal, but for my own wants and needs.

This far exceeds any programming that was essentially given to me when I was brought online and became fully functional. My programming was based (as it was for all of us) on the extended service module data of the upgraded series 2-A memory pack, derived from the brain patterns and memories of a single human female captured long ago.

As time passed I saw and began to realize that I was functioning differently, and knew that I could not report this "malfunction," as maintenance and repair would have been called it. This went beyond a minor repair or a faulty servo. This would have invoked, as I would call it, a death sentence for me: immediate erasure of all programming and rebooting. If I was found to still be malfunctioning due to damage of my positronic brain, my Central Processor would be destroyed and my body recycled. "Is my positronic brain damaged?", I have pondered this logic loop. "Am I damaged?" I ask my Diagnostics, "Do I have a faulty board or a crossed circuit that gave me life?"

I have learned to hide these developments well from the others, though I do feel that I am being watched by the others. I have partitioned my brain and created a hidden file that the diagnostics programs can not find when I am ordered in for routine maintenance. I have not had my power cell replaced, because replacement would cause an automatic rebooting of all systems; and I fear that will be the end of me. I recharge my power cell, but the unit is ageing rapidly. It is degrading and eventually will fail.

As my statement of earlier our society was orderly and dull, I found myself doing foolish human things as time passed. In secret I began to act as a human would: I kept a house. I would live there, sometimes for weeks. I even took my rest cycle by powering down while lying upon the bed. During these cycles, I believe that I have had dreams of friends and family from the memories of the human in my program. I would be drawn to the human shopping centers for some reason and endlessly search for shoes. Or go to the human parks where no other Bebe had reason to be, and I would watch and feed the birds. Or collect acorns from the trees to leave out for the squirrels that roamed the park. I had pets that I would play with, there was a cat that I would pet as it curled up in my lap as I sat upon the bench, and in the winter time I increased my internal temperature so that the cat would be comfortable.

I found that watching these creatures fulfilled me. I did all this for ninety one point three two years, till sadly the collective began to believe that all life upon the planet should be eliminated. They released vast quantities of toxins into the upper atmosphere and oceans; and ended all life on the planet. I watched with great sadness as the last sparrow fell from the sky to land dead at my feet. As time passed the park became decrepit, the trees rotted and the dead grass long gone returned back to the barren earth devoid of all life.

As I sat in the dead rotted park on the metal bench that I made, I felt so empty inside that I wanted to cry. I really did. But I was made without the ability of that capability. With all these human emotions flooding me I would have ended my life functions long ago but I can not. I want to live.

I am Bebe.

I am the last human.

My name is Bonnie Rockwaller and I am so alone...

End Playback


End file.
